In a network of computer systems, network transmitter devices and network receiver devices are required to allow individual computer systems to communicate with other computer systems. The network transmitter devices and network receiver devices can reside in an individual computer system to allow the computer system to communicate with other computer systems in the network. In addition, the network transmitter devices and network receiver devices can reside in repeater devices, bridge devices, router devices and hub devices allowing individual computer systems of one network to communicate with individual computer systems of another network.
In the network configurations described above, application programs can be stored in one computer system and accessed by other computer systems through the network by using the network transmitter devices and network receiver devices. In addition, data files can be stored in one computer system and accessed by other computer systems through the network by using the network transmitter devices and network receiver devices. Moreover, data, audio and video information can be transmitted from one computer system to another computer system through the network by using the network transmitter devices and network receiver devices. Because the network transmitter devices and network receiver devices perform the communication functions of the network, the performance capabilities of the network transmitter devices and network receiver devices is a major determining factor for the performance capabilities of the network as a whole.
One prior network transmitter device and network receiver device operated over four pairs of twisted wires. The network transmitter device of an individual computer system transmitted signals over three pairs of the four pairs of twisted wires. The network receiver device of the computer system also received signals over three pairs of the four pairs of twisted wires. However, only two pairs of the three pairs is common to both the network transmitter device and the network receiver device. One pair is dedicated to the network transmitter device for transmitting network signals and another pair is dedicated to the network receiver device for receiving network signals. A computer system using the prior network transmitter device and the prior network receiver device can transmit or receive data at the rate of 100 megabits per second. However, as described above, the prior network transmitter device and the prior network receiver device uses two pairs of twisted wires that is common to both the network transmitter device and the network receiver device. Thus, the computer system using the prior network transmitter device and prior network receiver device can only transmit or receive over the network at any given point in time. The computer system cannot both transmit and receive at the same time. In effect, a computer system utilizing the prior network transmitter device and prior network receiver device can only operate in the half duplex mode. This limitation acts to decrease the performance capability of the network.
In addition, because the prior network transmitter device and the prior network receiver device use two pairs of twisted wires that is common to both the network transmitter device and the network receiver device, a computer system utilizing the prior devices needs network arbitration of access between network transmitter devices of different computer systems or experience losses due to collisions. This effect also acts to decrease the performance capability of the network.
Thus, what is needed is a network transmitter device and a network receiver device that allows for enhanced performance of the network.